Reunion at Gulakamale Lake amidst birds

I always find it refreshing to move out of monotonous day-to-day life, even if it is for a couple of hours, I know everyone does. Bird photography gives me that opportunity, helps me to move away from that part of life, even if I have to wake up at 5 AM on a weekend morning.

Well, this time around, it was not just about photography, it was also about reunion. Reunion with a gang of like-minded people from diverse fields, but same passion -'Photography'.

Though everyone couldn't make it, but it was nice to meet some of them after a long time. By the way, we all met on a Bird Photography trial conducted by Times Group somewhere during Jan 2016. Since then we are together, at least virtually through whatsapp where we share our opinions & knowledge about photography. I have no hesitation to say that being a part of this group is one of the reasons which fueled my desire even more towards bird photography. Thanks a lot guys. We settled to meet at Gulakamale lake which is near to Kanakpura road, Bangalore.

The group photograph above was snapped during the trip, thanks to Mohan (extreme left in the photograph) for sharing the photograph. Let me introduce who all we have in the picture, from left to right - Mohan, Avinash, Sneha, Vyasa, Dr. Janardhan, Mrudula, my wife Jayshree & myself Debashish.

With this lets move our focus towards bird photography which was the other reason we planned our trip to Gulakamale Lake. The venue was beautiful, huge lake surrounded by trees & bushes. The first sighting of the day for me was that of Indian Robin (Female), a first time for me. It was so very cute & beautiful that I am sure the males would be gung-ho towards her. She was looking like a ball of fur sitting on a branch waiting for its mate.

Not far off I heard the chirping sound of another bird & suspected that it might be her mate calling her & bang, here he was, handsome I must say.

I clicked some more photos of Indian Robin which you see in the gallery section.

Proceeding on, I went to the other side of the lake in search of other birds. That side of the lake was full of bushes & one big tree where I expected to sight some birds. Though there was none but I sat below it for couple of minutes & the wait paid off. I saw one Common Flameback flying through the bushes that finally sat on that big tree. Fortunately I was able to get some good shots.

I reviewed the photos in my DSLR & just admired the beauty of those birds, that is my way of stress busting.

I then proceeded towards the bushes but something distracted me, something shiny something bright but couldn't recognize. I took some more steps & then again, something flew across me, at last it landed on a branch near the lakeside. That beauty was none other then Common Kingfisher, it may be common, but cannot deny the beauty it possess. It was sitting with a Green Bee Eater, probably sharing his sad story of how Mr Mallya ditched him & flew out of the country. Whatever it may be, enjoy the picture.

Today was not just about birds as I found out while moving towards the bushes, I saw a beautiful lizard lazing around the plants. They are easy to capture as they are, well LAZY. You will have all the time in the world to shoot & I didn't miss the chance. The image came out pretty good, too. Don't miss to spot the "ring of fire" in its eye.

Since my trip to Hoskote Lake, I have been sighting Green Bee Eater as often as crows & this time too, I saw many, not that I am complaining. They are so pretty & I was lucky to get so good images before it flew away.

Time flies so fast, it was already 11 AM & time to return. I met with the other members to say goodbye with a promise to meet soon once again. With that, another memorable trip came to an end with lots of sightings, but most importantly meeting the gang was easily the highlight of the day.

Hold on, I forgot to share the photo of this beautiful bug. I saw it on our way out, beautiful isn't it?

As we were moving back, I saw lots of Baya Weavers by the road side, the nests were quite far but at least could see glimpses of them. What a fantastic bunch of engineers they are (of course not software engineers I was pointing to), the way they build their nests with such precision, it is nothing short of engineering brilliance. I am just curious to know how they actually weave their nests, considering they don't employ any tools. Nothing short of wonder I must say. Have a look at the images. Sorry about the image quality, they were quite far, but wanted to share them so that we can admire their work.

That is all I have to share with you guys this time around, I hope you liked it.

Till next time, Adios !!

#photo